For this fourth chapter of our journey to the summit of Positive Impact, we find ourselves at one of the most important base camps: the involvement of LittleBiggers in Positive Impact issues. Well, yes: an ambitious trek doesn’t organise itself on its own! If sustainable transition projects are only supported by a few isolated people in the company, their chances of success are lessened. So without further ado, let’s discover everything we’ve put in place to make our journey a shared adventure.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, we must give credit where credit is due. We cannot start this article without referring to Peter Drucker and his famous mantra “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, which has guided our strategic choices.
By this enigmatic phrase, he meant that the culture of a company always determines its success, no matter how effective and sound the chosen strategy. No matter how detailed and well-constructed the plan to achieve an objective is, if the people who execute it do not have the right culture, the project is doomed to failure. The human factor is therefore, according to him, the most important factor in the success of a company. So we’re going all out on this one. And this is how!
#1 A gradual ascent
When they set out to conquer their peak, our leaders, Leanne and Jonas (Editor’s note: our Chief Impact Officer and Sustainability Offer Director), looked for the best ways to make Positive Impact a full-fledged topic in the company culture. Naturally it seemed to them that the first avenue to explore was internal communication. They therefore decided to create a large online presentation of the whys and wherefores for teams around the world, with the aim of making it a fun and friendly experience: The World Impact Tour.
The first episode of this series was an interactive explanation of the sustainable transition LittleBig Connection is embarking on. To make the participants join in, they used Klaxoon (link The Meeting Revolution starts now with Klaxoon | Klaxoon), an online whiteboard as practical as it is intuitive. This tool allowed everyone to express their feelings and propose ideas for the Positive Impact roadmap. And because there’s nothing like a heart-to-heart discussion, there was also an exchange at the end of the hour to gather questions from the participants.
As for the second episode, it allowed everyone to learn about the first action plans, ( thus introducing something practical as soon as possible), through a detailed presentation of the Q4 of the Roadmap 2022 , as ever in a really interactive spirit.
For these first two events, LittleBiggers from around the world were given a choice of three slots so that everyone could participate despite the time differences. From Tunis to Montreal, via Barcelona, Singapore and Mauritius, the Positive Impact team’s ambitions were broadcast on (almost) every continent! That way, no jealousy.
#2 Regular, robust encounters like the waymarkers on a path
We can’t say it enough: if we want the topic of Positive Impact to strike home , a few one-off interventions aren’t enough. For this reason, our two Sherpas decided to inaugurate ‘Shared Time’, a weekly online meeting that brings together all LittleBiggers and during which news can be shared between departments. From now on, colleagues can keep abreast of progress on Positive Impact week after week (and gradually gain altitude).
A second event – and not insignificant – was organized in September at group level: Positive Impact week. As the name suggests, it is a week dedicated to online workshops on ecology and inclusiveness. Employees were able to learn about stereotypes in the workplace or inclusive writing, using Climate Fresk (link in previous article), and the 2 tons workshop ( 2 tons, the immersive workshop to act together for the climate! ). This varied and complete program was available online to all those who wanted to attend (spoiler alert: they were very many)
#3 Offer everyone the opportunity to join the frontline
Training and information, that’s good. Offering participation, that’s better. That’s why our dynamic duo set up the impact committee . The concept? Call on the appetite of colleagues to contribute, so that everyone can bring their grain of sand to the discussion, regardless of their preferred subject or availability.
Thus motivated LittleBiggers join the taskforce of their choice, from “integrating women in tech”, to “cultural diversity”, “disability” or “environment”. To make sure they are all moving in the same direction, each taskforce is managed by a colleague who is responsible for leading a group of volunteers and coordinating their actions. Together, they were able to attend an inaugural meeting so as to clearly define the objectives, and then worked in small groups on projects they had chosen. First step: a major assessment of good practices within companies.
Thanks to this system, everyone, regardless of their position or seniority, can devote a little of their work time to discovering relevant topics and carrying out meaningful actions. With this system, and with joy and enthusiasm, Leanne and Jonas hope to sink their teeth into momentous topics!
To get our colleagues even more involved, we also launched a challenge: Mantu the hubs. This task involves virtual travel by walking, cycling or swimming to each of the Mantu (our parent company) group’s hubs. And that’s 34,000 km! Through this challenge, participants are encouraged to get to their workplace with an ecological mode of transport. This initiative is far from being an isolated one, since it’s one of many others from Mantu proposing involvement in impact events.
#4 And for those who follow our tracks?
Because LittleBig Connection keeps growing, we have to consider our future recruits. During the recruitment process, candidates will be asked about their degree of sensibility towards these questions which are dear to us. This will be, on the one hand, an opportunity to understand how motivated they are by the impact of sustainability, and on the other hand, an opportunity to show them that it’s an integral part of our culture. To join us on our hike, there are nonetheless some essentials to carry in your backpack.
The candidate becomes a LittleBigger? Good news! It’s time to move on to ‘onboarding’. So as they might immerse themselves in the LittleBig spirit from the very first day, their welcome course will be modified with the addition of a Positive Impact training course. Among the new features, the Climate Fresk (LINK) will become a must for anyone wishing to join our teams. The same goes for business training: newcomers will be coached on impact issues depending on their responsibilities (Green IT for our product teams, training on our Positive Impact offer for our sales teams, etc.). So we offer the best tools to those who want to climb with us.
As you will have understood, our aim isn’t to create a large Positive Impact department, but rather to instil these issues in all our teams. Thus, behind each initiative, there is the same objective: that everyone should become an ambassador for a sustainable transition. To achieve this, we are convinced that Positive Impact must be an important part of our corporate culture and that we must therefore bring about a long-term cultural change, which means that we must make our actions sustainable. Of course, only time will tell if launching ourselves by way of the North face to reach the summit was a better idea than trying the South face. But it’s an attempt!
To conclude this post, we rely on you! If you’ve been on the track of the same goals, feel free to share your best ideas and favorite routes. We’ll be more than happy to exchange with you on the subject! In the meantime, we’ll see you in a few weeks for our ongoing upward climb.
